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tv   [untitled]    July 28, 2011 4:00pm-4:30pm PDT

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over the years, we have met with the architect of this project and a couple of times with dan murphy, but not for three or four years. this is how we were notified of this budget. we have been trying to work with these folks to mitigate some of our issues which have to do with the building and blow. it is too high and too big. we would like to see heights up to -- that do not exceed 55 feet. there is -- we said the same thing. there is a solar water array on the roof. there is a pair pat -- parapet and popups with the elevator
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shaft. those did not show up on drawings we had seen. we are wondering if the community groups that did sign on for this project are aware of the horrendous height. this is 72 feet to 84 feet. something may be familiar with that we did in 2006 was our balloon test. this is where we flew balloons at an 85-foot height. we extrapolated where the existing zoning was and where the new zoning would be and we ended up with 68 feet. it is very large. even if the colors to go toward the color of the background, the
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high rises, you see how it overwhelms everything that is there. this is not mission bay. this is the other side of the freeway. this is not mission square. we have the height of the brick buildings. this is porterville -- potrero hill. we want to meet with the developer and get a project we can all be proud of. >> president olague: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. executive director of global city. there's a lot to like about this project. some of the open space stuff is clever. some thought has gone into the architectural design. we're interested in this project because it will in live in the corner of two very important streets in the city. seventh, we envision this as a
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gateway street that would lead from the muni station down to downtown western soma and down to 16th street. seventh is an important street. it is the street. -- that has the potential to connect north of market to mission bay. it is the important we get the street frontage is right. we're here to object to the proposed exception under section 329 from the active use requirements. we have been before this commission twice this year. to strengthen the active use requirements and extend them to every district. we have been to the mixed use areas. with those ordinances which were endorsed by the planning department staff and the commission, they said we will give exceptions for active use under narrow circumstances. one would be a historic
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building. you cannot alter the facade. the other would be a building where you have a very steeply sloping site. the only place to put required parking would be towards the front of the building. none of those conditions prevail here. the project sponsor is asking you to grant an exception for a not for a good reason. there is no criteria for this exception but we think this apartment should look to the ordinances that prevail elsewhere in the city. here is the narrow circumstances under which we would consider this. none of the parking that would be pushed up is required. no parking is required. there are not in the seismic conditions or a historic building. we ask that you -- it is fine if you want to do the other exceptions. this use requirement under 329 we do not think is warranted and
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it is a dangerous precedent. every project sponsor comes to staff and says, we want to stick some extra non-required parking. we want an exception from active use. is the department going to grant it in every case? this is one of the first 329 projects to come through. we think it makes sense for this project to have active use but we do not have -- create a big loophole where this provision which is important to the livability, walk ability, public safety of our city, gets the run around over and over again. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. our next speakers. >> good afternoon. i am a member of the neighborhood coalition and i live on lower potrero hill, a
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couple of blocks from the proposed project. i have on my house there for 20 years. our group has met with the developer of the project and a developer's -- the developer's architect to share concerns. as well as to discuss some possible changes. unfortunately, we were never formally notified of the pending application before the planning commission so our discussion comes late in the game. i commend the developer and architect for making time to meet with our group at the 11th hour. i urge the commission to grant a continuance to allow additional term to -- time to work with the developer to resolve some key differences. our disagreement stems from the heights and the bulk of the project. this is a massive fortresslike development that in our opinion, models and the braces every sized building unleased on
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mission bay. it does not go far enough in complimenting the existing uniqueness and scale and character of our neighborhood. we would like to see the massive walllining broken up and lowered to 55 feet. our last minute discussions have resulted in the developer making some cosmetic tweet sprader we think those cosmetic changes do not go far enough so we would like the commission to grant a continuance to work out these differences. i would urge the commission to disapprove as proposed unless major changes and reducing the scale and height and bulk. >> president olague: if i called your name, please come to the microphone. >> a live that -- i live across from the proposed project. earlier today, we heard that san francisco was receiving its third better straight award and
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this time for best practices. and the tenet is continued improvement. i have 20 use -- 20 years experience. they learn from past actions and the measure them and they apply them. since this project has been under development since 2004, a lot of change happened. we have seen mission bay erected and so on -- shown -- and showplace loss of reconstructed. -- hsu place plaza reconstructed. -- showplace plaza reconstructed. now the use our streets for parking. there is the proposed sales force to blocks away.
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we will hear about another development on that street. my only concern with this project is the number of parking spaces allocated. at 0.65, this is a walkable city but we can get it right. people are walking and parking in other neighborhoods. i urge the committee to think about a one-to-one ratio in retail parking. it is not above consideration. it is a request to consider it and to think about the people who believe in this neighborhood and have been living in it for a while and wanted to change. thank you. >>-- and want it to change. thank you. >> commissioners, i am david meckel. i have taught architecture and urban science for 25 years.
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our campus as you saw on the maps is separated from this project by one city block. the project sponsors have worked closely with us in our neighboring community. demonstrating an impressive level over rage over five years. unlike anything i have seen in the neighborhood. i am here to support the approval and draft motion adopting the ceqa findings and approval of conditions of the project. the plan provides a carefully considered model for creating a vibrant residential neighborhood. it is a well conceived urban projects the company by plans and streetscape and park design that will create an active part rome and enhance streets that are consistent with the better streets plan. it is a challenge to walk or bike along 16th street which hundreds do every day. the notion of a gracious,
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welcoming edge to that site is one that will make the city more livable for everybody. the plan provides a nice array of housing types to support to the first population of current and future residents, including young professionals, families, seniors, and students. it could be a bit more family and student-friendly. perhaps by adding 3-bedroom units and we would like to see that be a cool student housing project. i am working on a mirror on that. their art to other colleges -- three other colleges in the neighborhood. it is important to keep making progress on housing. the downtown plan monitoring report that was highlighted in the column on tuesday shows how hard it is to create new housing in the city when you are trying to -- new projects of 10 units or more. even with the inclusion of
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mission bay, a 900 of these new units have been added over the past 25 years. i commend the commission on its leadership in creating a vision for housing over the long term with the recent approvals of parkmerced and treasure island projects as well as the innovative thinking you showed on removing the barriers to affordable housing for the city's thousands of college students. while parkmerced and treasure island will take years to yield results, the project in front of you is shovel-ready. i urge the condition to approve the findings and authorizations to move this project forward. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. our next speakers. >> good afternoon. i would like to say that carpenter is local 22 --
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carpenters local 22 backs this project. we're looking forward to going to work there. i will tell you, this will provide homes and housing for an area in san francisco that is going to be built. in the next 20 or 30 years, there will be more jobs added. this will add a place to live and a place to go home to. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. >> that afternoon. -- good afternoon. i want to say that i think this is a beautiful project that will bring new life to this neighborhood. and 20% affordable housing. it is close to everything. i am -- there is a big issue about parking. this place is close to everything and we realize we're
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using more and more our bicycles. parking will not be a big issue. so i ask you please to approve this. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. >> i am vice-president of the dog patch neighborhood association. doggett place has been subject to community input. i have been part of the process from the beginning. i am excited to see the recent plan. it looks more terrific than it did several years ago. the extensive streetscape improvements, a one-acre private park maintained partly, wide sidewalks, and large, open space to me is something i look forward to. the project is complying with the newly adopted eastern neighborhood zoning including
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height. it would be unfair to set standards and not approve the projects that abide by them. as someone who lives in the area and goes by this a lot every day, it would be nice to see some physical bill to examples of our extensive planning process. -- built examples of our extensive planning project. we can began connecting our neighborhood to mission bay and create housing for the employees who will be in this district. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i worked at cca for many years and this project is long overdue. that site has been an eyesore for years. mr. baker and mr. bosley have
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worked with neighbors and leslee. the project is needed. we need a rental housing. the daggett triangle has been for many years an eyesore. i am glad this project is up for your approval. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am with walton development. we own the property across from daggett place. we participated in over 100 meetings over the last six or seven years. at every single one of those meetings, amir or dan murphy has been there. their outrage efforts have been remarkable, probably setting a
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world record of some sort. we believe the project is well co asset to san francisco in general. the neighborhood in particular. we're looking forward to being neighbors with the project and we encourage you to support the project. thank you. >> good afternoon. tim colon on behalf of the act of housing coalition. we have been looking at this since 2006. it has been before us half a dozen times. it is hard to imagine a project that has had more community input and outrage. we watched the design which we love. the members that have watched this project love it. it is urbanistic and appropriate to the location. but there is something this
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hearing brings out. this was held back when dan murphy was working with us. with the understanding the eastern neighborhood was moving along and he wanted this project to be consistent with the spirit and letter of the eastern neighborhoods plan. that in itself was a 10-year process with great difficulty, it was delivered. this project is consistent and it is hard to see how now we have an eastern neighborhoods project. it was supposed to deliver certainty to projects that complied with that. if they meet the guidelines set out, they would get through quickly and easily. we hope that is the case. this is one of the first through the gate. we are interested in how eastern neighborhoods is applied. the eternal question of parking, it is at 0.65. what is significant is how far the levels have fallen. there is a steady, and rental movement away from that bright
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line of one to one and an appropriate direction to reduce the influence of privately -- private automobiles. on the question of active use, we love wrapping it. to the extent possible. we love active use on ground floor. we do not like seeing parking but there are circumstances in which it cannot be avoided, and this is one. the access is along seventh street which is not a particularly attractive frontage. let's say it is challenging. it had to be accommodated somewhere. this is it. there is no possible advantage to slowing this project down after the review it has gone. it is an excellent project and i hope you approve it immediately. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. our next speakers. >> that afternoon. i have been born and raised on potrero hill and i have seen
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this eyesore forever. it is a fantastic product -- project. you did a phenomenal job of bringing in wholefoods and zinc and twitter. it is amazing. that project needs to be approved. we have been too numerous amounts of neighborhood meetings and i am in favor of approving the project. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. >> hello, i am president of dog patch neighborhood association. and chairman of green trust, sf. i have been involved in this project for many years as they have come to the neighborhood association and as far as the point of view of the green space and connecting greenways
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between dog patch and the rest of downtown. i want to say we feel this project is a good one. it will help connect what our existing residential spaces down on 16th street. this is a big project. it is going to add a lot. i also like the way they have designed the space on seventh street to buffer the noise, to have some interesting lighting going on. i note -- i like the way the p dr is offered on the north side. i think that the project should go through. i would like to encourage the city and the port to work with a developer on the park area, of course. and we are looking forward to seeing more families and people moving into this area and being able to travel easily between here and the front --
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waterfront true pennsylvania street and mariposa street and across the tracks there into mission bay. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. >> i got the staff report on friday and sent you a written letter. i want to highlight a couple of concerns i have. one is that this along with -- this is one of the first projects through eastern neighborhoods and the practice of submitting documents one week in advance that does not function well. there is nothing to alert neighborhoods how the staff is thinking about it. i am glad they have done all this outrage, but it is one thing to do outreach and another thing to do analysis that shows how the planning department is looking at it. we get that a week in advance and that is not functional for a
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400 or whatever unit project or at the other major neighborhoods. we need to change that. if you'll go back to looking at the graphics by the sponsor, the page before the site plan that you were shown, the green triangle. this is how they delineate the project. that includes the street. the street is its own issue because they are claiming this to be, they will build out the park and claim the one for one credit for the dollars expended against their public benefits. i know this is not going to be decided today but i want to raise that issue because it looks like a private part. developers illustrations are a great big triangle. there will get one for one. that needs to be deferred. 16th and seventh street is an unresolved mess.
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because it is unresolved, there is no transit. the project -- the transit goes a block or two away. i think there needs to be a transit resolution and it needs to be fast and you will have a submission with staff what -- with what is going on with transbay. if we do not get transit over 16th straight to third street, this area will be isolated and people -- with people not having cars, it will be harder because it is a difficult walked over the tracks. it is a very dangerous walk. again there should be some family housing in this. i think that you need to go back and look at some of the issues and on the exceptions. the exceptions being it is not consistent with the code.
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it was consistent, that there would not be any exceptions. it is an eastern neighborhoods project but it has exceptions. we need to see how the staff is thinking about this and right now, the staff thinking is shallow. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. >> good afternoon. i live in dog patch. i am on the executive committee of the potrero boosters. i have worked on this project for many years, working with cherokee, putting together an outreach program and meeting with staff and meeting with ucsf and meeting with businesses in the neighborhood and so forth. all that and we did a thing called planned potrero.
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staff started attending because it was instrumental in nailing down the fine issues for showplace potrero and central waterfront. if you check with staff, it is the easiest area to resolve. this project has resolved -- evolved and we are hoping -- not hoping. i know the issue of the park and part ownership and how much money they will claim as in kind will be resolved. the issues have been brought up that if it enhances the project, there has to be some value recognized there. if they have to build the street, what ever a real street will cost is the cost they have to include. at the end of the negotiations, the city will own the land, the port will be made whole, and we will get a public park.
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i appreciate your time. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. is there additional public comment? public comment is closed. >> vice president miguel: i do not know who wants to clarify this. i have a question regarding the park. i think i know the answer, but just to make sure that i actually do. there is a question of public or private. >> the public will be a public park. the daggett street conversion from the right of way into a public park will be a public park. privately maintain. >> vice president miguel: thank you. maintained in perpetuity? there is no gates closing at night? >> no. >> vice president miguel: 01 to
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clarify that. i was taking a look at community outreach. -- i wanted to clarify that. i was at five of the meetings. i have been following this for a long time and it has evolved. it evolved further with sophie maxwell's insistence on the pdr space. on the treatment of seventh street nearly as a freeway which driving it, it seems to be at times. we have to take a look at 16th street and go back to the original planning of mission bay. 16th was to be the connector from the mission district through potrero hill into mission bay. this should not be an enclave but should be connected as much as possible to the rest of the
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city in that sense. as to the street frontage, on hubble, you have small pdr, and retail along daggett and you have retail pretty much around the flatiron building. those not familiar with that term, that refers to buildings basically built on tribal lots. -- trying goal -- triangle lots. when you get into trying dealer lots, that is the normal term that is used. -- triangular lots, that is the normal term that is used. i commend the architect for putting in electric charging stations. i have been involved in that for a few years. we have been encouraging